


I Need You

by InsaneNerdGirl



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, Post-Episode: s01e20 Nothing Personal, and I still suck at titles, and descriptions for that matter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-22
Updated: 2014-05-22
Packaged: 2018-01-26 01:47:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1670213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InsaneNerdGirl/pseuds/InsaneNerdGirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set at the end of "Nothing Personal".<br/>Short Coulson/May drabble after he finds out the truth about TAHITI</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Need You

**Author's Note:**

> This was by request of tumblr user reignofcapaldi.
> 
> Please leave comment/kudos and let me know how i did. <3

Coulson stared at the computer screen for a minute longer, questions swirling through his brain. He stood up and started pacing back and forth; maybe if he started moving… if he did something as normal as pacing… maybe his brain would stop swirling.

“Phil…”

Oh right… Melinda. She was still there.

A gentle hand rested on his shoulder. “Phil, sit down.”

He sat. The bed was closer than the chair so he sat on that.

He felt her hesitantly sit beside him. Gently, she took his hand in her own and uncurled his clenched fists. Only then did he realize he had been digging his nails into his skin.

He leaned against her, accepting the silent comfort she offered.

“May…” he said at last, still not looking at the woman sitting beside him, “Why? Why did Fury bring me back? Why am I still here?”

“I don’t know Phil.” She said softly still stroking the back of his hand. “I don’t know why Fury brought you back, but…” she hesitated, and he inwardly flinched at it. He needed to apologize…

“Phil… I don’t know why Fury thought you were important enough to save, but I’m glad he did.”

He looked at her, but she was staring down at the hand she was holding between her own. “You are here because we need you. People like me need you.” She clarified. “When I… when people like me lose ourselves or when we become so immersed in this job… we need people like you to pull us out; to remind us of who we are.”

Coulson didn’t look away from her, but his eyes were filling with tears. He reached his free hand over and cupped her face, gently forcing her to look at him.

“Melinda…” he said softly, heart clenching at the tears he saw gathering in her eyes. The two looked at each other, neither one knowing what to say next.

He leaned his forehead into hers, letting the warmth of her skin seep into him and calm his frenzied thoughts. “I’m so sorry…” he whispered at last. “I’m so sorry for how I treated you… because I need you too.”

Coulson and May never told anybody what all happened in that bedroom that night; but if, when Trip entered the next morning to wake up his boss, he found the two of them wrapped in each other’s embrace, they wouldn’t deny it.

There was a need for each other… not in the way that Skye seemed to think when she started leaving hints for Coulson… but an emotional one. A gentle touch of the hand did more than anything so many people would call more intimate. And as they slowly rebuilt the world that had crumbled around their ears, they kept each other steady; anchored each other when the demons of the past clawed at them, threatening to destroy them.

Because Melinda May and Phil Coulson needed each other; they always would; and they would always be there for each other.


End file.
